Song: We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth ft. Selena Gomez

Chapter Thirty-three: Was I as good as the duck?

"Surprise!"

I opened my room door to see Zane standing there, with a small, colorful box with a bow on top. I couldn't help the smile that fought its way to my face. I knew he was coming back today, but I didn't expect him to show up at my door.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why don't you sound more excited? I mean, it's me." He let himself in and lay on my bed.

"So you didn't drop the arrogance off in France?"

"Nope."

"Clearly. What's that in the box? Did you buy me a present?" I asked eagerly.

"Open it up, and find out." He placed it on my bedside table. I gave him a weird look, before I walked over to the table to pick the box.

"Is it a bomb?"

"If it was, I wouldn't be here."

My eyebrows shot up. "Is that the only reason? What about not wanting to blow the place up?"

He stroked his chin. "That could be put into consideration."

I rolled my eyes at him before opening the box. There was a white wrapping around whatever it was. I opened it and my eyes grew as big as saucers. I screamed and jumped on him. We both fell on my bed with him under, but I didn't even think too deep about it. I just threw my hands around him and hugged him tight.

"You bought me chili cheese dogs!!" I squealed.

"I know. I just didn't know you'd be this excited." He chuckled

I raised my head to look into his hazel eyes. "Neither did I, I guess you can call me a foodie."

"I guess I can."

A strand of my hair fell on his face, and he tucked it behind my ear. "I thought you'd like something to munch on, on the ride we're going."

*********

I wasn't really ready for the 'trip', and Zane didn't let me change so I was wearing another T-shirt dress. But this one was long sleeved and black. What can I say? They're the only comfortable things to where when you're stuffing yourself to death. As Rev gently put it.

"Is the blindfold really necessary?"

"Nope."

"And I still have to use it?"

"Yup."

He helped me down from the car, and put a hand on the small of my back, holding my hand with his other one.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

"About six pm."

I urged. "Well, hurry up. I was saving my chili cheese dogs for the way back." 

It would be cold.

And I would still love it.

"That was a good idea." 

"Why?"

"You'll see."

"You know, I don't like mysterious things."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well too bad. Jump!" I jumped. "What was that?"

He laughed. "Nothing. I just thought it'd be funny to see you jump over nothing." 

I elbowed him in his stomach. It was too bad I couldn't see the look on his face, but at least, I got to hear him groan. You call that sadistic, I call that sweet payback.

"So.. Is this a long walk?" I asked another question

"Sort of."

"Where are we? We drove for quite a while."

"The outskirts of town."

"I see. So since it's still far, I have some questions for you."

"My trip with Serena was fine. All her photo shoots went really well and she's scheduled for another one in Spain next month."

I smiled realizing how well he knew me. Which reminded me of the same sort of thing that happened at the masquerade ball.

But I lied inside, hiding my smile. "I wasn't going to ask that."

"Sure, you weren't." He responded sarcastically.

"Can you stop with this mind reading thing?"

"No. Now, I have a question for you."

"I'm not hiding anything important." I guessed.

"Now who's mind reading?"

I shrugged. "I guess it's our thing."

"Our thing." He repeated. "I want to know what you're hiding."

"You have to give me something in return."

"What?"

"I want to know your own secret."

He was quiet for a while. "Deal."

"Good. You know, it was a pretty stupid deal. I'm not hiding anything important. I would have told you anyways."

"Still. I want to tell you."

"Then why wait this long?"

"Perfect time. Perfect place."

I nodded slowly. "I see."

"Now tell me what happened while I was gone."

"Okay so starting from Monday. I met this guy named Jayden."

"And why is he important?"

"He's Jaxon's brother."

Zane stopped and stopped me as well. I decided to continue. "I was with my friends and he came up to us, and introduced himself to me as Jaxon's brother. And said he could recognize me because Jaxon had my photo."

"You were at Tate's, weren't you?"

"My friends wanted to eat there, and I couldn't give them a good enough reason not to go."

"Jaxon has a photo of you?" He asked slowly.

"That's what Jayden said. Jaxon also has my old phone. Remember that day we saw Wren at Tate's and you thought you saw Jaxon. When you left me in the car to talk to Wren, Jaxon came to stand about a few feet from the car, resting on the building. He was using my phone. I was about to go meet him, but when you entered the car and I turned back, he was gone. So I thought it was unnecessary to mention it."

"You wanted to go meet him?"

"Yeah?"

"God Cherry! Thank God I entered when I did. You can't just go meet him."

"I know."

"Is that all?"

"About Jaxon, yeah. Also, we made up with my dad."

"That's great. How did it happen?"

"I don't know. I can't really explain it. And also, no more Avery Adams. Dad promised to pay all our bills and fees."

We started walking again. "I think that's the best news I've heard all night. I never want to see you near that place again."

"I live near there. At least, when I leave my Dad's house."

He groaned.

"Let's just skip that okay? It's not important."

"Fine. Is there anything else?" He asked again.

"Nope. Now your turn."

"Let's get there first."

"Really?" I groaned as I stomped my feet like a child. I really looked forward to hearing about Zaiden.

"Yes. That's important."

"Fine." I grumbled.

A few minutes later, he announced. "We're here."

He untied the blindfold and my eyes widened like saucers for the second time today. Around us were trees, and we were standing by a waterfall- not too big, but still as beautiful- that fell into a little lake that was downward. After the lake, there was a clear landing with grass. And then about 10 feet away, there was a tree house.

"This place is beautiful." I gushed.

He came to stand beside me. "I used to come here when I was little."

Don't say with Serena. Don't say with Serena.

"The only person that knew this place was Zaiden. We built that tree house."

Here it comes...

"Is that the secret?"

"One of it. I'm not sure if I should say it because I don't want to say it yet. I have an amazing night planned."

"An amazing night?" I raised my brows.

"Yeah. But I guess I'm just going to come out and say it. It shouldn't be a secret after all." He turned to me, as if asking for permission. I nodded. "We should go down first."

"How do we get down?"

He gave me an unnerving smile that told me exactly what he was thinking.

"No! No, no, no. We are not jumping."

"Why not?" He whined.

"Because although it may not be too high, I'm not the best fan of heights."

"Fine." He grumbled. "We'll go down the boring way."

I rolled my eyes. He led us down a steep, but firm path all the way down to the clearing. At least, it wasn't raining. That won't be pretty.

When we got to the bottom, he went to the edge of the lake, pulled off his shoes, sat down and put his legs in. He patted the space next to him. "Come here."

I glared at him. "I'm not a dog, you know."

"Yet you're coming." I punched his shoulder, before taking off my own shoes and putting my legs in the water.

"Zaiden is my brother." He blurted out.

I turned to him with an alarmed face. I didn't know he had a brother. "Where is he?"

He gave me a small smile. "In heaven, I hope."

God! He's dead!

"No! Stop with the waterworks."

"How can I? After you just told me that. If you're not going to cry, I'll cry for you."

"I've cried enough. It's been 8 years."

"How old is he?"

"He turned 17 this year. He was just a year younger than me." He stared into the water, kicking his legs slowly. "When we left Argentina, he was just three. A few years after we got to America, we noticed something about him that was different. He never wanted to make eye contact. He obsessed over a particular way of doing things. He walked weirdly. He was sensitive to a lot of things. He didn't speak to anyone but me and my parents. He spoke weirdly and he didn't understand abstract thinking."

It dawned on me. "He had Asperger's syndrome, didn't he?"

Zane only nodded.

"What happened?" I dared to ask.

"One day he was just walking down the stairs, and he tripped on his own leg. He hit his head and lost a lot of blood. We were homeschooled so no one really knew us. His burial was a quiet and peaceful one. Just the way we wanted it."

"I'm so sorry Zane." I rested my head on his shoulder. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes. Wipe your tears."

I raised my head up to look at him and gasped. "You're the one who told me the story. Why so morbid?"

"Because if you cry, I'll cry too." He said as he fought the tears that slipped down his face. "I know it may not seem long, but I knew him the first 9 years of his life. He was my best friend and I finally came to terms with the fact that he was gone so I'm allowed to be morbid if I don't want to sink back into that depressing stage of my life."

I gave him a hug and rested my head on his shoulder. "He's not gone. He's in the place where the lost things go."

He chuckled. I raised up my head from his shoulder and pushed his shoulder. "Stop laughing I'm serious."

He gave me an incredulous look. "You're quoting a kid's movie."

"Yes, but it's something that has a lot of meaning to it. Just imagine that he's up there watching over you." I pointed at the stars.

He looked up with me as we stared at the twinkling stars before he looked back down at me and smiled, "Simba really did make you wise."

I looked at him and smiled back. We just stared into each others eyes with not a single care in the world.

He finally snapped out of it. "If I don't get to do what I planned I'd back out of it again." Before I could question him some more, he stood up pulled down his trousers and took of his shirt. I didn't get to drool over his beautifully sculpted body because he jumped into the lake and started swimming away.

"Come back here you morbid coward!" I yelled at him.

"Come over here you sensitive cry baby!" He yelled back.

I gasped. "I'm not a cry baby and everyone would be sensitive about what you said."

He started swimming back towards my direction. "But if you cry, then I'll cry and that can't happen. Now hop in. The water feels great."

"I can't swim." I lied.

"You were on the girl's swimming team."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

"Okay, stalker." I smiled. "Well, I don't have anything to wear."

"Well you could try skinny dipping." He suggested.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure you'd love that."

"I'm not denying it." He laughed.

Without another word, I just jumped in. The water did feel great. It wasn't too cold because the sun just started going down. It felt relaxing. I went under the water to soak my hair. It felt so good.

"I told you you'd love it."

I smiled at him. "And as usual, you're correct."

"Let's swim over to the waterfall." He started swimming towards it and I followed him.

When we got under, there wasn't water falling because we were under the cliff itself, but we could reach out and touch the waterfall. How did he even find this place? It's amazing.

I felt Zane wrap his arms around me. I turned to him with a perplexed look. I wanted to lean into him, but I needed to understand first so I let him do the talking.

"I realized something while I was in France. I missed you so bad that I figured everything was so much better when you were around. I realized that every day I spend with you becomes the new best day of my life."

I smiled, hoping this was going where I thought it was going. "Okay, that's just cheesy."

He brushed his fingers through my hair. "But it's the truth Cherry." He continued. "I planned a thousand ways to tell you this, and I couldn't choose one."

If this is going where I think it's going, I'm going to combust and then explode.

You can't-

Shhhh.

"Then I remembered that this was you I was talking about. You don't care about diamonds and pearls and extravaganzas. So I took you to a simple, but beautiful place. Right under the waterfall where it's just me and you and the rest of the world around us freezes. All this to tell you..."

Please be what I want to hear.

"I'm crazy in love with you, Cherry. I can't escape the way I love you. And I don't want to."

My heart didn't melt, my heart didn't freeze.

My. Heart. Literally. Just. Stopped. Beating.

He said he loves me. He's in love with me. He brought me to a waterfall to tell me he loves me. He feels the same way. I was saying it over and over again and it's still not registering in my head.

"Please say it back."

I looked to up to meet his eyes. "I'm in love with you too."

His face broke into a smile and he hugged me.

"I've known I loved you for a while now, but I felt if I told you you'll reject me."

He put his hand on my cheek. "How could you possibly think that? I make my feelings very obvious. I mean every time I see you I fall in love with you all over again. Your closeness takes my breath away and every time I tried to tell you, it's like I had no voice. Cherry, I just-" He grabbed my neck, leaned down and kissed me, right under the waterfall. It was all like a dream.

It's like I was floating on cloud nine. All the scenarios I had imagined in my head for a first kiss were nothing compared to this beautiful one I shared with Zane. The kiss began with the gentle soft touching of his lips on mine. We were wet, but heat still rose in my cheeks as the kiss became more passionate. We floated to the edge of the cliff and he pushed me against it. My cheeks were so hot, his lips on mine felt electric. I know that may sound crazy, but I could feel sparks throughout my body.

We released each other as we took our breaths.

He smiled at me as he stroked my hair. "Was I as good as the duck?"

I looked to be in deep thought. "Slightly better."

We both laughed at his joke about how my first kiss was a duck.

"Where have you been all my life?" I smiled at him.

"Under a fake identity called Zed." He teased.

I laughed a little. "So..." I stressed. "Are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend or are you going to stay there looking pretty?"

"I think I'm more hot than pretty."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Cherry will you be my girlfriend?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"You literally just told me to."

I shook my head. "Unnecessary details."

He gave me a small peck on the lips as he started swimming away. "Come on Cherry. I planned a picnic."

I couldn't help the smile splitting my face. "Is this a date?"

"Obviously."

"Well, what if I said no?"

He turned to give me an incredulous look. "Who can deny this face?"

I rolled my eyes, then splashed him. And we fought like that in the water until he had to chase me to the bank of the lake.

We climbed up the tree house and enjoyed some cheese burgers, fries and drinks. Also some fruits like cherries, grapes, strawberries. You can already tell who ate what. Whether I found the nickname Cherry cute or not, I still wasn't going to eat the actual fruit. 

He also brought sandwiches and strawberry shortcake, which I just fell in love with it. Rosita had to make it for me again one of these times. He had to run back to the car to get the chili cheese dogs because he clearly didn't think it through. I mean there's no way I was eating all these good food without my chili cheese dogs.

He came back with my purse and the chili dogs and we began eating, although I already started eating without him. Since Zane removed his clothes before he entered the water, he had dry clothes. And he also had spares in the tree house, so I took one of his shirts and pajama pants. 

We practically just ate and talked the night away. Everything was so perfect.

We ended up falling asleep in the tree house because there were blankets and a bed. A bed that we shared. 

Snuggling up so close to him in search of warmth felt like absolute bliss.

*

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Thanks and Toodles <3